I’ve mentioned before that Shadow Jones is one of those characters from the original Ninja Turtles books that I really wish had made it into 4Kids’ adaptation, and that hasn’t changed much–I still really wish she’d made it to the cartoon. Introduced in 1992 during the “City at War” arc, she since became a fixture of the Mirage ‘verse, which focused various stages of her life–infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood–as various stories hopscotched through the timeline. She’s also one of those characters who were really useful in showing how time had passed and changed the various characters; TMNT isn’t about just having endless iterations of a single status quo–or at least, not usually about that–but about change. The characters as seen in volume 4 are not the same characters we first met in volume one; almost twenty years have passed since then, and they have made their presence felt, and Shadow is one of the clearest signs of that, as she turns characters into parents and uncles and teachers.

Since 4Kids did not see it fit to feature Shadow in their universe, I decided to take on the job myself. Because I’m me, this meant changing almost everything I thought I could get away with, while still retaining what I felt was the core of the character. I then paid an artist, as I’ve done before, to translate my ideas into paper (or whatever its online equivalent is), and this is what came from it.

Thus far, Casey Jones has been one of this seasons’ most pleasant surprises. Thanks in part to his isolation from the turtles, the character has been a breath of fresh air, as he provides April–and some viewers–just what they needed: someone who wasn’t the turtles. Of course, given his importance to the mythology, he wasn’t going to stay in the periphery forever, and it was just a matter of time before he met the guys. That moment is now. Also, Foot Ninja.

As always, post your thoughts, positive, negative, or meta-filled in the comments.

“Follow the Leader” and “Mutagen Man Unleashed” have easily been my favorite episodes this season. Not coincidentally, they heavily featured Karai and April, respectively. This week’s episode apparently focuses on both, so despite last weeks execrable episode and my complete contempt for Ciro Nieli, I have hopes for this one.

As always, post your thoughts, positive, negative, or meta-filled in the comments.

Written by: Greg JohnsonOriginal Air Date: November 1, 2003Recap Narrator: RaphaelCharacters and Concepts Introduced: Mr. Mortu, Utroms, The TransmatGargoyles episode I could make a forced comparison to: N/A